The poet as historian

The poet as historian

Poet Kevin Young’s Night Watch, the Ink Book Club’s September selection, is divided into four cycles; the first, “The Cormorant,” consists of a single poem. The second cycle, in four sections, is “The Two-Headed Nightingale,” the title taken from one of the stage names of the Carolina Twins, conjoined sisters Millie and Christine McCoy. Young has long seen it as his mission not simply to write poetry that is stunning for its imagery and musicali…